Los Angeles Times

What rules would you change? NFL legends, experts voice their opinions

As great a game as football is, there are always ways to improve it. For instance, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh has floated the idea of tweaking overtime so that instead of beginning the extra period with a coin toss, the fourth quarter simply rolls into overtime. So if a team has a third and four at midfield as the clock expires with the score tied, that team simply continues with the ...
Samuel Womack III of the San Francisco 49 ers is called for pass interference on Nico Collins of the Houston Texans during the first quarter of a preseason game at NRG Stadium on Aug. 25, 2022 in Houston.

As great a game as football is, there are always ways to improve it.

For instance, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh has floated the idea of tweaking overtime so that instead of beginning the extra period with a coin toss, the fourth quarter simply rolls into overtime. So if a team has a third and four at midfield as the clock expires with the score tied, that team simply continues with the same down, distance and field position in overtime.

It's an interesting concept — overtime has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent years — although a formal proposal of that surely would get a lot of pushback. For instance, some people would argue that would bleed the two-minute drama from games. Why would a team take risks to win at the end of regulation if it knew it could just play out the clock and keep going?

Regardless, Harbaugh was merely toying with the idea, and there's a lot of that proposed tinkering that goes

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